Korea's Technological Connections to the Rest of the World: The Crossbow

From the moment we discovered it, we always depended on technology- there's no denying it. With the tools our human ancestors first created, daily tasks became easier, which eventually made our lives easier. Agricultural tools promoted massive crop productions,utility tools provided cleaner, more secure homes, and most importantly, weapons gave men the ability to hunt, trap, and even conquer.

I've noticed some similarities between ancient Korean, European, and American weaponry before their industrial revolution. The first item for analysis is the automatic crossbow created by Korea.

This image is an excavated remnants of what is known to be a Bue-ine crossbow by Chosun, Korea. 

It is an automatic, self reloading crossbow used by Korean soldiers throughout the war with ancient Japan. 

The image at the right is a refurnished replica of the Bue-ine. 

Statistics are as follows:

- Fires 30cm-long darts

- Firing speed of 1 dart per 1.5 seconds

- Single fire and triple fire burst mode

- Dart magazine that can hold about 60 darts

- Name Bue-ine comes from Korean word "Wife" because the crossbow was so easy to operate that a housewife could operate it with great ease.

Although this crossbow was technologically obsolete to the ancient musket used by the Japanese invaders, its rapid fire capability was responsible for many Japanese casualties according to surviving war documents from the Chosun period.

Meanwhile, halfway across the globe, pre-modern Europe had their own version of the automatic crossbow. Their names for the weapon varied from region to region, but were most commonly known as the push/pull lever crossbow. The European crossbow used a similar design of the Bue-ine, but the only difference was its projectile: an aerodynamic, long-range-capable arrow. 

It's hard to debate which crossbow was more efficient in the battlefield. Although Bue-ine had a rapid fire rate and little to no reloading time, because of the short darts, it greatly lacked accuracy. The European crossbows however, mostly used feathered arrows, which proved to be dangerously accurate, but had a slower fire rate due to the manual reloads it required.

In my opinion, violence of action conquers all rules of engagement in a battle due to the level of threat rapid firing can cause. Furthermore, even though the Bue-ine lacked the power of the killing blow of a musket used by the Japanese, higher fire rate meant that it had a better chance of hitting a target due to its quantity rather than quality.